JURY SELECTION RULES STAND, COURT DECIDES

Sun-Sentinel, http://www.sun-sentinel.com, Feb. 8, 2008.Florida’s rules designed to prevent racial discrimination in jury selection will stand after a sharply divided state Supreme Court refused Thursday [Feb. 7] to change them. The 4-3 decision let stand a 1996 Supreme Court decision on peremptory challenges of prospective jurors. Those challenges typically are when prosecutors and defense attorneys are allowed to dismiss possible jurors without explanation. Courts, though, have allowed lawyers to challenge peremptory strikes to prevent an opposing attorney from using them to exclude jurors solely because of race. Justices Barbara Pariente, Harry Lee Anstead, Peggy Quince and Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis concurred. Justices Raoul Cantero, Charles Wells and Kenneth Bell dissented.